[IP] stay clear of Tennessee -- Police surveillance cam works: Shows cop brutality, dog-killing

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Reply-To: declan@well.com
Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2003 17:12:00 -0800
To: politech@politechbot.com
Subject: FC: Police surveillance cam works: Shows cop brutality, dog-killing

[Note the family had committed no crime and were stopped erroneously in the
first place... (How many hardened criminals travel with their family and,
in a second car, the grandparents?) --Declan]


http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/08/police.kill.dog/index.html

    COOKEVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Police video released Wednesday showed
    a North Carolina family kneeling and handcuffed, who shrieked as
    officers killed their dog -- which appeared to be playfully wagging
    its tail -- with a shotgun during a traffic stop.

    ...

    The family was driving through eastern Tennessee on their way home
    from a New Year's trip to Nashville. They told CNN they are in the
    process of retaining a lawyer and considering legal action against the
    Cookeville, Tennessee, Police Department and the Tennessee Highway
    Patrol for what happened to them and their dog.

    In the video, released by the THP, officers are heard ordering the
    family, one by one, to get out of their car with their hands up. James
    Smoak and his wife, Pamela, and 17-year-old son Brandon are ordered
    onto their knees and handcuffed.

    ...

    The Smoaks told CNN that as they knelt, handcuffed, they pleaded with
    officers to close the doors of their car so their two dogs would not
    escape, but the officers did not heed them.

    ...

    An officer in a blue uniform aims his shotgun at the dog and fires at
    its head, killing it immediately.

    For several moments, all that is audible are shrieks as the family
    reacts to the shooting. James Smoak even stands up, but officers pull
    him back down.

    ...




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